The present invention relates to an axle unit, in particular for use in utility vehicles.
Axle units are well known from the prior art. It is moreover known to mount additional motors, for example hydraulic single wheel drives, on axle units in the region of the wheel suspension, for example to enable maneuvering of a trailer in the case of a coupled towing vehicle or, for example, to enable the transmission of an additional drive force to the individual wheels in the case of steep inclines and/or a large load. A great improvement has already been achieved here in the past in that the lines which are needed to supply the additional drive with corresponding hydraulic fluid are integrated in the axle body of a rigid axle. Since the hydraulic lines expediently need to lead to the additional motor by way of the non-rotating part of a wheel suspension and, without the integration of the hydraulic lines in the axle body, this hitherto resulted in an extremely complex, error-prone line arrangement requiring considerable installation space, axle bodies were hitherto used which were capable of accommodating hydraulic lines (axle bodies of solid material). However, these axle bodies have proven very disadvantageous in that they have an extremely high weight. Moreover, the incorporation of longitudinal boreholes in the solid axle body is linked to very high manufacturing costs. There is therefore a need for improvement in terms of reducing the weight of axle bodies with integrated hydraulic lines and in terms of simplifying the manufacture of such an axle body.
The object of the present invention is to provide an axle unit which enables a lower weight and simpler manufacture and at the same time fulfills the high requirements in terms of strength and durability.